Just the Three of Us
by clockworksalsa
Summary: How the gang formed, it's untimley split, and how it got more together than ever. A Mystery Skulls fanfiction. Characters and concept do not belong to me!


**Introducing my OT3 **

Vivi and Lewis had eyes for each other from the beginning, since grade school. When Vivi suggested that they form a sort of ghost hunting team together, Lewis had become the sort of spokesperson- not leader, never leader, although that was often assumed of him- and then they found Arthur, and he completed them, somehow, the brains, brawn, and soul. A few years later, Vivi and Lewis started dating, and Arthur seemed happy for them, of course, he was Lewis' best freind after all, but he spent more time locked away in his lab with Mystery more than anything. That left Viv and Lewis to do most of the busts by themselves, and Arthur was there in spirit, with his ecto-detector and other ghost gear that he'd invented over the years, but it wasn't the same.

Both of them had agreed that Arthur was an integral part of the team, of the three of them, and maybe even something a bit more, they had confided late one night deep into an investigation. So, in an attempt to wrangle him back into their lives- and see if they could somehow gauge what his reaction would be if he found out that both of his freinds were in love with him- the pair enticed him with the promise of an untouched bust. It was a cave so mysterious, so deadly that hardly anyone ever went in- and those who did, came out changed for the worst or not at all. Arthur agreed to come, in the end, sitting in the back of the van with his equipment while Lewis and Vivi took the front, grinning at each other. Mystery, their animal companion, tagged along too, following Arthur with the loyalty of man's best freind.

When they finally arrived, the blonde seemed a bit put off by the appearance of the cave itself, and Mystery kept his watchful eyes on him the whole time. They entered, and Arthur clung to Lewis, hanging behind him and darting his eyes around. Vivi shot a worried glance at her freind, and then at her boyfriend. He looked equally as confused. The mechanical engineer was a scardy-cat, but not to this extent. He was even developing a twitch! With a pointed glare towards Lewis, he let out his usual "Let's split up, gang!" when they came to a forked path. Vivi made her way down the lower path, opting to give Arthur the comfort of having Lewis by his side. She thought that Mystery might follow her to keep her company, but a few glances between the two paths, and he took off after Arthur with a whine. She shrugged and smiled to herself, after this the four of them could go get ice cream or something, and maybe talk about their feelings. She missed having Arthur around, and she knew Lewis felt the same.

Meanwhile, Arthur was having probably the worst time of his life. He was chilled to the bone, nervous beyond belief and all around disgruntled at his two freinds. The two lovebirds had pulled him out only to push him to the back, making heart eyes at each other the whole time. It was really no wonder why he didn't want to hang out with them anymore, he was painstakingly _jealous_. At the thought, a weird, slithery feeling caused him to shiver, and Lewis looked back at him. Arthur avoided his gaze, waving a hand at him to keep him walking. They had been on a steady incline for a while, but Arthur felt none of his original curiousity, he just wanted to get out of this _cave_, God. The whole situation gave him the sense of something terrible, malignant. Something that a couple of novice ghost hunters shouldn't be messing with.

"Arthur, check it out! We're at the top of this cliff, maybe Vivi is somewhere below us?" Ugh, Arthur hated the way Vivi's name sounded when Lewis said it, with such adoration. And then he hated himself for feeling that way, they were his freinds, and he was some psyco who wanted to date _both of them_. Argh, he had a horrible pounding in his head, he could barely think, and he could feel the hate in him brewing and morphing into something. Disconcerted, he tried to call out to Lewis, who was leaning over the edge a bit dangerously, he might fall. And then half of his body went numb, Arthur let out a choked gasp, he saw his arm, covered with a green haze, come up, felt himself move forward, heard a loud bark behind him, oh, good, Mystery, and Lewis turned around just in time to catch Arthur's hand on his chest, a little push, and that was all it took to send the man careening over the edge and onto the sharp spikes of rock below and Arthur felt a dulled tearing, a sense of some foreign power, and then he was out.

When he woke up, he was in the back of the van, and Mystery was curled up beside him. He raised his head slowly, moving his shoulders and rolling his neck, noticing Vivi driving. That was weird. Vivi usually never drove... but neither did he? His head gave a weird jolt and the force of it bopped his head forward, and Arthur didn't want to think about that anymore. Mystery let out a concerned whimper, and he rubbed the dog's ears fondly, or at least, he meant to, but there was nothing where his hand should be. Or his arm. He made a weird choking noise, and Vivi almost mirrored it, and it was then he noticed her crying face in the mirror. Arthur tried to get to her, but he was unbalanced, and Mystery urged him to stay down.

"Viv, what's the matter?" Arthur said quietly, throat scratchy. He coughed a bit.

"I don't know!" she finally cried, frustration evident in her tone. "It's like there's this big hole in my head, and whenever I think too hard-" she let out a strangled gasp, and her head twitched to the side, "- it hurts! I'm so... oh, Arthur, I was so worried, Mystery woke me up, we were both passed out near the entrance to that _horrible _cave, and your _arm_-" Vivi stopped, eyes brimming with new tears, and neither of them spoke for the remainder of the trip.

Eventually, they worked up the courage to go on another hunt, this one just a regular old haunted mansion. Vivi, constantly enthralled by the paranormal, was excited, but Arthur was far more cautious. Things happened, and Arthur had the living daylights scared out of him by a purple/pink skeleton, wow, something he'd never thought he would say. He pulled Vivi out of there before one of them died, but the ghost stayed with them, burned into thier minds. Vivi, reminiscent of that night so many weeks ago, was in tears, not knowing why, but wanting to go back. Arthur initially refused, fearing for his life, but he had to admit he felt a stirring of _something _that he might remember, if he went back, and there was that twitch that signaled maybe a thought he shouldn't have had. His foot slammed in the brakes (thank God this road was abandoned) as his mind whirred, putting two and two together. In the mansion, their heads had jerked in time with some unheard music, the whole time, accompanying one of the worst headaches Arthur had felt to date.

Vivi complained loudly about giving a lady some warning, but fell silent as he swerved the car around, something, a thought, a _memory _trying to come to the surface. Gritting his teeth against the pain in his head, Arthur fought to remain conscious as they flew into a now empty lot. Breath ragged, Arthur pulled open the door and jumped out into the blank space. Vivi got out behind him, letting out a confused noise. The blonde's mechanical arm came up to card through his hair, and he looked at it, and his head gave the most vicious pound he'd felt yet. He vaguely heard Vivi call his name as he fell to his knees, gripping his head. A memory, a memory, he felt it, just a bit closer and he'd have it-

"LEWIS!" Arthur choked out, nearly screaming, and Vivi gave a pained gasp behind him.

"Lewis, Lewis..." she murmered under her breath, feeling the holes in her head clearing. She felt Mystery brush past her legs, to Arthur, who shakily got to his feet. He turned to his best freind, and she saw his face streaked with tears. She smiled as the tears bagan to run from her eyes as well, she was so happy, she remembered Lewis, he was probably just angry at being forgotten, so now everything would be alright! But greif pulled Arthur's face tight, and he began to sob in earnest now, turning back away from Vivi. Because he knew exactly how Lewis had died and why he was still here- revenge.

"I'm sorry!" He managed, throat tight, chest heaving. "I didn't mean to, I swear, I just-" In a burst of purple flame, the skeleton himself appeared in front of Arthur. Instead of flinching away or running like Vivi thought he would, he fell to his knees, still in tears. Vivi tried to rush towards them, but Mystery's soft growl stopped her.

"Why?" the ghost hissed, and there was no trace of the loving man they had both known, just his jilted spirit.

"I was jealous!" the mechanic cried, and Vivi started a bit. What was he implying...? Did Arthur...? "I was jealous of both of you, having each other, but it wasn't me, I swear, it was something else, something _bad_, Lewis, please, I know you're in there somewhere. I'm your best friend... I love you..." The last part was soft, almost inaudible, and Vivi wondered what kind of love he meant. The ghost of Lewis hovered for a minute, before raising a skeletal hand. Arthur bowed his head, prepared for the worst, and Vivi turned away, but there was a whooshing noise and suddenly plain old Lewis was standing there, holding his hand out to his best freind. The only thing different about him was a sort of iridescence that seemed to surround him, and his dark, black eyes had glowing irises of purple. Athur looked up and reached out a shaky hand that Lewis gripped tightly. And the bigger man pulled him into a crushing hug. Vivi gave a cry and ran to join them, not stopped by Mystery, and wrapped her arms around both of them. And then all three of them were crying, and laughing, and Vivi kissed both of them on the cheek and confirmed to a confused Arthur that she loved him along with Lewis. And then Lewis pressed his lips against the tops of thier heads and confirmed his feelings as well.

Afterwards, they all piled into the car as usual, Mystery barking happily. And yeah, Arthur was still in the back of the van, but Vivi slipped a hand back to him, and Lewis kept his glowing gaze flitting from the road and the two of them. With Vivi tracing patterns on his knuckles with her thumb, he explained exactly what happened in the cave on the way home, all memories returned. By the time Arthur finished, his voice was scratchy and his throat hurt, his guilt making it hard to get any sound out, and they were parked at Lewis and Vivi's apartment. The other two didn't say anything, but he slipped out of the car after them, dismayed and feeling dejected. But they both gripped him tight in a hug, surprising him.

"We forgive you... I forgive you." Lewis whispered, kissing his cheek, before separating to go unlock the door. Vivi stepped back too, and Arthur touched where Lewis' lips had been moments before, tingling.

"Wanna stay with us?" Vivi asked, grinning. She picked Mystery up from where he lingered by Arthur's legs, ruffling his ears and making kissy noises.

"You mean just for the night, or...?" Arthur let his question trail off into the night as they heard the door open and Lewis walk inside. Vivi just smiled and followed, Mystery's tail wagging the entire way. The engineer felt his heart give a little flutter, then he ran to catch up, laughing along with his rejoined freinds- and maybe something more.

**Uuuuauaaghagahgahgahafga I love this video**


End file.
